The present invention relates, in general, to nail clippers used for clipping or trimming the fingernails or toenails and, more particularly, to a nail clipper with supplementary functions of illuminating the jaws of the clipper and producing a melody while clipping the nails.
As well known to those skilled in the art, a nail clipper is a device for clipping or trimming the fingernails or toenails, and typically comprises upper and lower longitudinal plates jointed together at their rear ends into an elastic single body through a riveting process or a welding process, with a sharpened jaw formed at the front end of each plate. A lever is mounted to a shaft at the front part of the top surface of the upper plate While clipping the nails, a user repeatedly levers the elastic upper plate down relative to the lower plate to clip or trim the nails by the jaws.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional nail clipper. As shown in the drawing, the upper and lower plates 11 and 12 are jointed together at their rear ends through a riveting process or a welding process into an elastic single body, with a sharpened jaw 17 or 18 formed at the front edge of each plate 11 or 12. A folding nail file 20 is rotatably mounted to the rear joint of the two plates 11 and 12 such that the file 20 is rotatable between a folded position inside the gap between the two plates 11 and 12 and an exposed position outside the two plates 11 and 12. A shaft hole 16 is formed at each of the front parts of the two plates 11 and 12, while a shaft 14 having a base upwardly penetrates the holes 16 of the two plates 11 and 12 such that the base of the shaft 14 is stopped on the lower surface of the lower plate 12. The shaft 14 has a hook 19 on its sidewall.
A lever 13, having a hinge rib 15 at its front end, is movably caught by the hook 19 of the shaft 14 at the hinge rib 15. The lever 13 is normally biased upward by the elastic upper plate 11, and so it is possible to maintain the movable engagement of the hinge rib 15 of the lever 13 with the hook 19 of the shaft 14 without allowing an undesired removal of the lever 13 from the hook 19. The folding nail file 20 is rotatably mounted to the rear joint of the upper and lower plates 11 and 12 such that the file 20 is rotatable between its folded position inside the gap between the two plates 11 and 12 and its exposed position outside the two plates 11 and 12.
In order to trim the nails, a user repeatedly levers the elastic upper plate 11 down relative to the lower plate 12 by the lever 13 with a target nail placed between the two jaws 17 and 18, thus trimming the nail.
However, the conventional nail clipper is problematic in that it is somewhat difficult for users to clearly observe the jaws of the nail clipper while clipping the nails in a dark area, and so the clipper may unexpectedly injure the fingers or toes. In addition, most children do not like a nail clipping action since the conventional nail clippers do not excite children""s interest while clipping the nails, and so some parents unnecessarily undergo difficulty while clipping or trimming the nails of their children.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a nail clipper provided with supplementary functions of illuminating the jaws and producing a melody during a nail clipping action.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nail clipper, of which the body is partially covered with a casing having the supplementary functions of illuminating the jaws and/or producing a melody during a nail clipping action.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a nail clipper comprising an upper plate and a lower plate jointed together at their rear ends into a single body, with a lever used for levering the upper plate down relative to the lower plate to clip the nails, further comprising: a folding plate rotatably mounted to the rear joint of the upper and lower plates such that the folding plate is rotatable between its folded position inside a gap between the upper and lower plates and its exposed position outside the upper and lower plates; a housing provided at the free end of the folding plate such that the housing is positioned between the upper and lower plates when the holding plate is fully rotated into the gap between the upper and lower plates; a flexible extension extending from the housing, and designed to be changeable in its length and bent to be curved as desired; and a light emitting device used for illuminating a target place, the light emitting device being electrically activated by a battery installed within the housing.
The nail clipper also has a melody chip activated by the electricity supplied from the battery to produce a melody.
Another embodiment of this invention provides a nail clipper comprising an upper plate and a lower plate jointed together at their rear ends into a single body, with a lever used for levering the upper plate down relative to the lower plate to clip the nails, further comprising: a cover partially covering the rear portion of the body of the nail clipper, the cover holding a battery, a melody chip, and a switch used for activating the melody chip using electricity supplied from the battery.